For Californians concerned about sky-high gas prices and a looming increase to the state’s fuel excise tax: Never fear, the Assembly Select Committee on Gasoline Supply and Pricing is here! What exactly will the committee do? It will “investigate the gas price gouging that has inflated prices at a rate equivalent to 100% per year,” […]
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Posted inWhatMatters
Closer to becoming California law: bills to limit concealed guns and decriminalize psychedelics
Just in time to go home for Memorial Day weekend, legislators bulldozed their way through a bunch of bills at the end of this week to beat the even bigger deluge next week, when there’s a Friday deadline to pass remaining bills through the house where they were introduced. Some of the bills that passed […]
Posted inWhatMatters
How big will Newsom go on California housing change?
From CalMatters’ housing reporter Ben Christopher: Ever since a California court ruled earlier this year that UC Berkeley violated the state’s premier environmental protection law by failing to account for “student-generated noise” at a proposed housing development, we knew this was coming. In response to that ruling, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the state’s environmental review […]
Posted inWhatMatters
Newsom slaps down Senate Democrats’ tax hike
From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: Tax increases are sensitive business in politics. So it didn’t take long Wednesday — all of two hours — for Gov. Gavin Newsom to swiftly and decisively reject the latest idea from Democratic lawmakers to balance California’s budget by pumping businesses for more cash. Ahead of Newsom’s revised budget […]
Posted inWhatMatters
California preps for abortion pill ruling
From CalMatters’ health reporter Kristen Hwang and political reporter Alexei Koseff: Gov. Gavin Newsom and a cadre of Democratic lawmakers want to be clear: They will protect medication abortion in California no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court decides on the issue — they’re just not entirely sure how. In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, […]
Posted inCalifornia Divide
California’s reparations task force could face uphill battle in legislature
Few assembly members have pledged their support for monetary reparations for the descendants of formerly enslaved people. Public response is split.
Posted inNewsletters
California opens the floodgates
If you’re reading this somewhere in California and within sight of a window, this probably won’t come as news: It’s raining. A lot. Again. With the 10th atmospheric river of the winter now drenching an already sodden state and threatening to melt a historic snowpack across the Sierra, California water regulators have opened the floodgates […]
Posted inWhatMatters
In California Legislature, 500 bills beat the deadline
California doesn’t really need 2,600 new laws, right? Nevertheless, state lawmakers proposed 500 new bills on Friday, the 2023 session’s introduction deadline, bringing the total to about 2,600. That’s the most in more than a decade, according to veteran Capitol lobbyist Chris Micheli. More than 1,000 are “placeholder” bills without specific language. Reminder: More bills […]
Posted inCalMatters en Español
Reglas solo para ti: Así es cómo la Legislatura de California elude sus propias leyes
EN RESUMEN Los legisladores estatales a veces se eximen de las leyes que aprueban, pero en esta sesión podrían cambiar de rumbo en un proyecto de ley emblemático: permitir que sus propios empleados formen un sindicato. Read this article in English. Los legisladores de California aprueban cientos de leyes cada año. Pero a veces, se […]
Posted inCapitol, Politics
Rules for thee: How California Legislature skirts its own laws
State legislators sometimes exempt themselves from the laws they pass, but this session, they could change course on an emblematic bill: To allow their own staffers to form a union.